Series: Extended Producer Responsibility in international law | Umweltbundesamt

Background

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been increasingly discussed as a concept to solve the current waste problems for specific products. Thomas Lindhqvist first described it in 1990 as “an environmental protection strategy to reach an environmental objective of a decreased total environmental impact of a product, by making the manufacturer of the product responsible for the entire life-cycle of the product and especially for the take-back, recycling, and final disposal”. Proponents of EPR argue that by assigning the organizational responsibility for waste management to a producer, EPR could reduce the financial burden of municipalities and support the internalization of commonly externalized costs associated with waste. As such, EPR might also constitute a transformative framework for a shared responsibility for waste handling between producers and consumers, as the latter might contribute to a sustainable waste management through increased purchasing costs.

In summer 2023, The TES Academy started a joint collaboration process with actors working on and with EPR to discuss its transformative potential in the circular economy. The process started addressing different perspectives on this potential. This includes for example a broader application of EPR internationally, but also its future potential to achieve environmental goals where EPR systems are in place for quite some time, e.g. in Europe.

More information on the TES Academy process on EPR

If you want to receive regular updates, please sign up (Updates on TES Academy activities | German Environment Agency).

Previous Events:

Disclaimer: The perspectives presented in the discussion are personal views and may not reflect the official perspective of the German Environment Agency.

The history of Extended Producer Responsibility as concept and policy instrument in the Circular Economy

16.01.2024

Speakers: Thomas Lindhqvist (Assoc. Prof. at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental
Economics, Lund University), Naoko Tojo (Assoc. Prof. at the International Institute for Industrial Environmental
Economics, Lund University), Reid Lifset (Research Scholar, Yale University School of the Environment)

With this public virtual event we took a step back to better understand the genesis of the EPR concept and its implementation. Thomas Lindqvist, together with his colleague Naoko Tojo looked back at the development of EPR over the past decades. Reid Lifset gave an additional perspective. 

Webex meeting recording:         History of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)-20240116 1433-1

Password:                                   EPRHistory24

Recording link:                            https://uba-meeting.webex.com/uba-meeting/ldr.php?RCID=e31d640c3a75265fe8f86bfeac2cde24